Members of the Sacramento Police Academy who where classmates of fallen officer Natalie Corona remember her during a vigil on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019 in Davis.

By

Officer Keirith Briesenick said one of the last calls she went on with Corona involved a victim of the Camp Fire. Briesenick said Corona had kept in touch with the victim and later went out of her way to replace supplies lost in the fire.

“We went back to that house, knocked on the door, and out of the goodness of her heart, delivered a whole Santa bag full of presents and packages for a fire victim, just on her own,” Briesenick said. “She hadn’t asked anybody about it, she just did it.”

Davis police Chief Darren Pytel announced that Corona’s memorial will be held at 11 a.m. Friday in the ARC building at UC Davis and will be open to the public.

Mariah Diaz, a friend of Corona’s, said she had spent the night with her the night before she was killed. They stayed up until 4:30 a.m. talking, Diaz said. After Diaz shared that her biggest fear was being alone, Corona assured Diaz that she would never be.

“I think that’s why all of you are here today. That’s her telling me that I’m not alone, that I have all of you,” Diaz said.

Representatives from local branches of the 100 Club, a nonprofit that provides financial support to families of killed or seriously injured law enforcement and firefighters, presented Corona’s family with $20,000.

Several students from UC Davis, which was ordered to shelter-in-place during Friday’s shooting, spoke at the vigil, including two friends of Corona’s.

Eddie Saavedra and Gustavo Chavez said they had grown up with Corona in her hometown of Arbuckle.

“She always lit up the room, any room she came in,” Saavedra said.

Once in Davis, Gustavo said, Corona had shown up on-duty at a house party he was at.

“Even when you’re getting in trouble, about to get a citation, she doesn’t make you feel bad about it,” Chavez said. “All I can say is that Natalie was truly a great person.”

Chris and Lauren Snow, longtime Davis residents, came to the vigil bearing large red-and-blue-lined American flags over their shoulders, which honor both law enforcement and first responders, they said.

When Chris heard about the shooting around 10:30 the night of the shooting, he went out to the hospital where Corona was being treated with his flag.

He said he met Corona’s father there, and he and Lauren wanted to support her family.

“It’s the least we could do to come out here and show the support for the community,” Chris Snow said. “Being here for the last 48 years, you don’t ever think anything like this is going to happen in our town.”